BMC's new Open Access portal for the Developing World

[<Charlotte.Webber@biomedcentral.com>]

Press release from BioMed Central www.biomedcentral.com: for immediate
release

New Portal from BioMed Central Highlights Importance of Open 
Access to Scientific and Medical Literature for the Developing 
World

London, July 18, 2007 - BioMed Central, the world's largest 
publisher of open access scientific research, today announced a 
new information portal calling attention to the developing 
world's need for open access to the scientific and medical 
literature. The Open Access and the Developing World portal 
highlights the most relevant peer-reviewed research from BioMed 
Central's open access journals and brings together the latest 
news and resources relating to open access and the developing 
world.

As part of the launch of the portal, BioMed Central is inviting 
researchers and others working in developing countries to share 
their stories about how open access to the online research 
literature is changing their work. (See "Share your Story", 
below)

"Open access to the scientific and medical literature is a key 
way in which the developed world can help developing countries," 
said Matthew Cockerill, Publisher of BioMed Central. "In recent 
years, the funding for research on global health issues such as 
AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis has increased significantly 
thanks to support from philanthropic foundations. Open access is 
vital to ensure that the full use is made of the results of this 
research."

The research articles that will feature on the new portal 
includes publications from Malaria Journal, a leading BioMed 
Central journal which was recently ranked by Thomson Scientific 
as number one in the field of Tropical Medicine. Other BioMed 
Central journals which publish research highly relevant to 
developing countries include AIDS Research & Therapy, BMC 
Infectious Diseases, BMC Public Health and the International 
Journal for Equity in Health.

The portal also offers profiles of BioMed Central authors who 
work in developing countries, newsfeeds and a blog which will 
provide a regular round-up of news and resources relating to open 
access and the developing world.

"Working in a developing country I feel like I need to be one of 
those to take a lead in publishing much of my work in open-access 
journals," said Dr. Philip Hill, Clinical Epidemiologist at MRC 
Laboratories in Banjul, The Gambia. "I am very pleased that 
BioMed Central has provided this resource, which will be of 
particular benefit to researchers in developing countries."

Share Your Story

BioMed Central is inviting researchers and practitioners working 
in developing countries to send in a photograph or video relating 
to their work, along with a story explaining why open access to 
the scientific literature is important to them. The senders of 
the first 10 stories selected by BioMed Central to appear on the 
Share Your Story page will receive one of BioMed Central's "Open 
Access - Global Access" T-shirts. The sender of the best story 
received by 30 September 2007 will receive a contribution of 
$1000 towards computer equipment for the lab or project of their 
choice.

###

For further information please contact Charlotte Webber at BioMed
Central on +44 (0)20 7631 9980 or press@biomedcentral.com

For more information about the Open Access and the Developing 
Worl portal please visit 
http://www.biomedcentral.com/developingcountries/

Or for the related link, Share Your Story, please visit
http://www.biomedcentral.com/developingcountries/stories/

About BioMed Central

BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com) is an independent 
online publishing house committed to providing immediate access 
without charge to the peer-reviewed biological and medical 
research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that 
open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient 
communication of science. In addition to open-access original 
research, BioMed Central also publishes reviews and other 
subscription-based content.

***